Best Practices Benchmarking® is the process of seeking out and studying the best internal practices that produce superior performance. Benchmarking initiatives help companies compare their processes, identify gaps in performance and discover proven tactics and winning strategies for closing those gaps. When well executed, benchmarking can lead to superior performance and enhanced competitiveness.

Lead by CEO Christopher Bogan, co-author of Benchmarking for Best Practices: Winning through Innovative Adaptation, the Best Practices, LLC team can help your organization tap into the power of benchmarking. A recognized leader in the field of benchmarking and process improvement, we have extensive experience in providing benchmarking advisory services.

Jonathan Tanz, Vice President of Research and Publishin at Best Practices LLC, a benchmarking and consulting firm in Chapel Hill, N.C., says that a typical benchmarking costs $70,000 to $150,000, while a high-end one might cost as much as $300,000. But the potential savings that can be identified by a benchmarking dwarf those costs, he says. “Typically, finance organizations can save 20% to 30% of their total costs. That comes in at about $3 million to $5 million of annual savings per $1 billion of revenues,” Tanz says. “The ROI on benchmarking is absolutely clear.”

He adds that the potential return from benchmarking is related to its scope, with work on broad-based processes likely to produce bigger savings. “If you have processes like order management, sales contracting and credit that cut across multiple functional silos, you have a huge opportunity not just for cost savings, but also improvement in the business itself and the speed at which business can happen,” he says.

Our Methodology

Using our proprietary Best Practice Blueprints for Excellence methodology, Best Practices' analysts first help our clients assess their existing processes and performance systems. Following the completion of internal practice collection, Best Practices, LLC and the client team members confer to prioritize the issues and areas that will have greatest economic and operational benefit. An action plan is then developed and used to guide the benchmarking project.Client List • What our Clients Say

Featured Research

Developing the Benchmarking Function
A Fortune 100 client recently turned to Best Practices, LLC for help in setting up a benchmarking program within the human resources function. A team of analysts gathered insights from top benchmarking executives at nine leading companies, including IBM, Intel, Kodak and Raytheon.

The project yielded best practices and lessons learned around creating a benchmarking infrastructure, building buy-in for the program, prioritizing requests, managing implementation and leveraging technology. In addition to helping the company design its benchmarking function - which now is fully staffed and operational - Best Practices, LLC also developed benchmarking website and training materials to facilitate the implementation process.

Creating a Benchmarking Manual
A recent government client turned to Best Practices, LLC to help bring the discipline of benchmarking to its performance measurement. The client wanted to create a benchmarking program and accompanying manual that would enable employees to compare cost and performance metrics with like government agencies and the companies in the private sector.

Best Practices, LLC worked closely with the client agency to identify the top applications for benchmarking within the organization then create a custom program to meet the agency's needs. The manual included training materials as well as a system of standards to ensure that employees gather only valuable and directly comparable data.

Keeping Benchmarking Practices Current
Through its Research and Advisory Services, Best Practices, LLC has access to benchmarking practitioners in leading companies around the globe. Ongoing research involving these members evolves the benchmarking tool to meet the demands of our dynamic business world.

Recent research has focused on issues such as creating value through benchmarking in an uncertain economy, leveraging the Internet to extend the reach of benchmarking initiatives and reducing cycle time for projects through the use of "fast-track benchmarking." Organizations with thriving benchmarking initiatives already in place can benefit from Best Practices, LLC's expertise to continually adopt the benchmarking tool for maximum returns.